rainbow thread

I will now be able to appliqué to my heart's content for quite some time... and in rainbow colors... and each spool only cost me HK$2 (less than a US quarter)! What a deal! And what made it even more of a satisfying purchase was that the man at the first place I saw the thread for sale wanted to charge me $5 a piece. I guess the saying is true -- good things come to those who wait.


The thread (and some other goodies) were bought in Sham Shui Po (where else?). Here's a little shop cat in a place where I bought some twine. She was cute. And as you can see, she had a lot to say.

In other news, today was our last school day! I'm going in tomorrow to sort through a few things, and after that, the summer holidays will officially begin! I haven't mentioned this in my blog yet, but I'll be going to the UK for a few weeks this summer. I fly to London a week from today!! But more on that later...

my old friend, sham shui po

I made a long-anticipated trip to Sham Shui Po today... first time in months, which must be a record for me. I decided to hold out on going until I'd used up more of my sizable fabric stash. But then things became desperate when I realized I was almost out of coffee cup cozy insulation... so I had no choice but to head to my favorite crafting destination. I limited my purchases to non-floral fabric, and of course, the insulation batting. I'm digging stars at the moment, so was thrilled to find two cool star prints. And then I came close to squealing when I found robots... not sure what they'll end up on, but I couldn't resist their cute little robot faces and all the zeros and ones.

And of course I managed to squeeze in lunch at my favorite 24-hour chain, Eat Together. (Check out this older post for a more detailed account of the Eat Together dining experience.) This time I thought one photo would suffice. It's a shot of the billboard outside the restaurant. I think the very serious-looking gentleman with the crew-cut must be the owner, because his picture is a fixture at every restaurant. Pretty inviting, huh? Makes you just want to run in and place your order, doesn't it?

monday meal

This was my Monday dinner with Daniel. We went to a noodle/tofu dive in Sham Shui Po, where we happened to be when we got hungry. I'd never thought of myself as a big fan of soy milk until I tried it at this place... delish. And such a bargain. Noodles and soy milk -- a HK$17 combo.

my new addiction

It had been less than a week since I'd last gone to Sham Shui Po. I was nowhere near the end of my fabric supply... on the contrary... if someone had entered my room this morning, their first thought probably would have been that a giant fabric-eating monster must have entered at some point during the night and projectile vomited its entire stomach-contents all over my living area. I didn't need anymore fabric, but somehow I convinced myself that I would be needing more soon, and that I should save myself future trouble by going to Sham Shui Po today.

I went directly to the trusty fabric shop and immediately started noticing possibilities.

The big blue print will make some bags; the stripy print, the lining for said bags; the other two will probably be incorporated into a quilt at some point...
I bought more of the heavy cotton I've been using for bag-making. And the two checked fabrics are what I plan to use as linings (my only legitimate reason for needing to go to SSP -- I really do need more lining...). I thought the brown and red check print was pretty fun, and fortunately matches the red and brown flower print almost perfectly. The pink checks take me back to my days at Beacon Hill School (I'll have to resist the temptation to sew it into a large, pleated, uniform dress). The small flowery design in the center will be used for a quilt at some point. If you actually got to the end of my fabric descriptions and are actually interested in fabric, sewing, and craft projects -- yay! Me too! But if you didn't make it through (which incidentally means that you're probably not reading this now...), or you did read it, but only because you're a masochist, let me assure you that my blog has not permanently turned into a craft blog. I probably will write about other things again at some point in the not-so-distant future...

tuesday afternoon adventure!

I had a great afternoon shopping with Erika, whom I recently discovered shares my affection for all things Sham Shui Po! Since I was wanting to look for fabric, and she was needing to do some scouting and sampling, we decided to join forces and hit the haberdasheries together. Here she is having a heyday with wire.
The wire store pictured above had 4 cats, and they were all sleeping in the back...
...in various positions.

Erika reintroduced me to a great fabric store that I'd pretty much forgotten about. I found lots (!!) of things that I liked. Here are some photos of what I bought:

I love these colors!! And designs! And more importantly, I love them all together! I might use them for the tetris quilt, or do something else with them.

Some brighter colors. The top two are quite thick cottons... almost canvas. I think I might try my hand at making some bags. I've been reading a bag-making blog recently and looking more closely at my own purses --think I'd like to give it a shot. It can't be too hard, right?
Here's one of the new fabrics with some that I already had. I like these prints together. Another quilt in the making...

I'm very excited about this rediscovered fabric store for a number of reasons: 1. They have an amazing selection within a relatively small space. 2. The store is air-conditioned (hugely important right now!). 3. The fabric is about a third of the price of the stuff at Spotlight.

It's settled: I'm hooked. Now it's just going to be a matter of finding time to sit down and get sewing!

eat together

I went to crafty Sham Shui Po this morning, and managed to work in a meal at my favorite Chinese dive-of-a-chain-that-apparently-has-its-own-website -- Eat Together! Wow, and I just realized from looking at the picture below that it's a 24-hour chain -- I'll have to stop by for some late night/early morning meals, just because I can.


Here's the meal that I've come to love. Dam dam meen (or dan dan mian, for any Putonghua speakers out there)... not exactly sure how it translates into English, but it's a slightly spicy soup base with pork, pickled vegetables, a peanut-y sauce, and lots of cilantro thrown in for good measure. It might not look or sound very appetizing, but trust me, it's very tasty! And what could be better to wash it down with than a super-sweet iced lemon tea.
Besides all the positive attributes listed above, I think the coolest thing about this restaurant is the employee uniform. Yes that's right, it's all camo here, even down to the hat/hair-net combo things they're wearing.
I just checked out their website. Unfortunately, it is not very informative, though they do have an English page with a list of their specialties. Which brings me to this interesting tidbit: one of their specialties is imitation dog meat. Yes you read that correctly. Killing and eating dogs is illegal in HK, but I guess someone liked the taste of dog meat enough to want to experiment on creating a kosher imitation version that could be enjoyed in the HKSAR...

word for the day

Haberdashery: a shop selling small wears and sewing notions.


I think today was the first time I'd seen this word, though that's surprising, since I now know that quite a few shops in Sham Shui Po (my favorite crafty shopping destination) have the word in their name.

The sign on this store is one of many examples of how big, little-used or technical English words seem to pop up quite frequently in Hong Kong... which is ironic, as it seems to me that in countries where the majority of the population are native English speakers (or at least in N. America), simpler terms are usually preferred.

finished!, fishballs, and fabric

I turned in my last paper today, and am thus officially finished with my PGDE work! Hooray!

Here are a few highlights from my day:

While trying to write my paper, I noticed this funny tag on my folder. Definitely a good reminder...
I've been really looking forward to finishing up my work so that I can get started on some sewing projects I've had my eye on (read TETRIS QUILT!!). So after turning in my paper, I wasted no time and headed straight over to Sham Shui Po, to my favorite fabric market.

Here's a place that I stopped at for a snack. The name is interesting... they decided to translate half of it into English, and leave the other half in Cantonese.

My favorite processed-fish-snack-on-a-stick: fishballs!!

Here's the fabric that I bought. Some of it is a little loud, but I like the variety. You never know what you'll find in Sham Shui Po...

And here's some of the fabric that I rediscovered in my home fabric stash. I'm not sure which ones I'll use yet... I think I need some time to ruminate on this one. Suggestions are welcome!